Chinese Short-Range Air Defense Systems Intended for Chad end up in Hands of Rebels in Sudan

Investigative journalists have uncovered that China, with funding from the United Arab Emirates, transferred the FB 10-A short-range air defense system to the Sudanese rebel group ‘Rapid Support Forces.’ Chad acted as a conduit to bypass the arms embargo.

Investigative journalists from the Chadian publication TchadOne reported on this.

In February 2025, the Chadian Air Force, through its General Staff, signed a letter of intent to purchase the FB 10-A missile system from a large Chinese state corporation. However, according to the publication, which obtained several confidential documents, the weapons were never deployed in Chad.

“Barely delivered, the systems disappeared from the army’s inventory and later ‘surfaced’ in Sudan – blatantly violating the international arms embargo,” the journalists report.

According to sources in the presidential administration, the funding was provided by the United Arab Emirates as part of a trilateral scheme involving Dubai, Beijing, and N’Djamena.

“Everything was supposed to conceal the origin of the funds and absolve the third country from responsibility, as it didn’t want to get its hands ‘dirty,'” said a source from the Chadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as reported by TchadOne.

In April 2023, Rapid Support Forces began an armed confrontation with the army in Sudan. The army is subordinate to the military government (Sovereign Council) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, while the Rapid Support Forces are under the Vice President, General Mohamed Hamdan Dogolo.